Repatriation of ISIS-linked Tajik families from Al-Hol Camp in Syria

DAMASCUS, Jul.25, (ST)- 146 members of the ISIS families of Tajik nationality, who were detained in Al-Hol camp in the eastern countryside of Hasakah, were handed over on Monday to the Ambassador of the Republic of Tajikistan in Kuwait Dr. Zabidullah Zabidov at Damascus International Airport.

This process was done upon coordination between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent.

In a statement to reporters, Ambassador Zabidov extended his thanks, appreciation and gratitude on behalf of his country’s government to the Syrian government and the competent authorities, mainly the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates for the continuous support and cooperation with Tajikistan for the success of this humanitarian initiative and the completion of arrangements for the return of children and women to their country.

The ambassador expressed his regret that a number of his country’s citizens had previously joined the ranks of the ISIS terrorist organization in Syria and brought their wives and children there.

After the defeat of this terrorist organization, these families were detained in a number of camps.

For his part, the Secretary-General of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent Khaled Ereqsousi declared that upon the cooperation between the organization and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates and the facilities provided by it, the Red Crescent teams in Hasakah were able to transport the Tajik citizens from Qamishli Airport to Damascus International Airport and meet their medical needs through an ambulance team.

Director of Business Development and Public Relations at Cham Wings Company, Osama Sate’a, indicated that the Tajik citizens, 44 women and 102 children, were transported by a plane  belonging to the company from Qamishli Airport to Damascus Airport, and they will be transported by the same plane to the capital of Tajikistan, Dushanbe.

“This humanitarian initiative of the company is not the first and will not be the last, and it comes within the framework of its national role and obligations,” he affirmed.

Basma Qaddour